New to your forum, glad to be a member!!

Say fellow ATV folks.

I have an '06 Sportsman 500efi with the warn 2.5 winch on it.
I have an '07 Sportsman 800 with the "new" Polaris factory installed 2.5 winch on it.

The warn spools from the bottom. The Polaris from the top. I had issues with the warn snapping cables while plowing - went synthetic - fixed that problem.

Snapped my Polaris cable this weekend (my fault) and while fixing realized they were spooled different. Which is correct? Is everyone's warn winch spooled from the bottom and the Polaris's the top?? Or is one of mine backwards?

Thanks

 

All of the winches I have installed fed from the bottom. Does the Polaris winch cable line up with the fairlead? It should come off the reel and feed straight out to the fairlead without bending around the fairlead roller when pulled straight out...

It could have just been wound backwards on the reel

 

it bends a scosh and it goes "in" when I push in and "out" when I push out.

Feeding from the bottom was the problem my 500 had plowing. It was going over the fairlead and then straight down and the up and down over a small space eventually snapped it with the weight of the plow. Obviously with the synthetic it's no longer a problem.

Do you have the "Polaris Winch" spooling from the bottom?

Thanks

 

Well, unless something has changed recently, Polaris winches are built by Warn so I would guess they should be the same...but stranger things have happened!
As you mentioned, this may be a good thing for plowing since the cable wouldn't have to bend around the fairlead on it's downward travel...if it works go with it!

AND, welcome to the forum!!!

 

My Polaris winch from 2 years ago spooled from the bottom just like my Warn winches. Pull your cable all the way out to make sure it isn't kinked or doubled over. When it rewinds (under tension, of course) make sure it goes on the bottom. Your switch may be operating backward. They make fairleads with a small roller on top and a big roller on the bottom to help with the plow problem.

 

Howdy everyone.....I got a new Polaris 2500 winch about 3 months ago and it spools out of the top. The in/out rocker switch is labeled and works proper also.

 

They must have changed it.

 

All of the large winches that we have on our equipment at work...the winch line comes off the top. I just went to the basement and checked my Polaris winch,it feeds off the top too. Honestly I've been around ALOT of different heavy equipment with winches and I can't remember ever seeing a winch wound from the bottom. I'm not saying it would really hurt anything but I'm pretty sure off the top is the norm.

 

Thanks for the info, folks.

Looking back this all started when I sold my '04 Sportsman 500 and got my '06 (wanted efi). I would plow like crazy with the '04 and never a problem, not as much as a cable kink.

Then the second time i plow with the '06 my cable breaks. Thought it was odd but figured - crap happens - it's human made. So I cut off the bad chunk and re-looped it and continued to plow only to have it happen again a few plows later.

Got to looking and realized it was coming off the spool and up and over the fairlead roller and straight down to the winch. Course it's only traveling a few inches at a time repeatedly while plowing. Of course I'm not thinking at the time that it should be spooling from the top (limited winch experience hddoperator) and blamed it on crappy wire. By this time I've heard and seen a bit about the synthetic cables and decided if I was buying new cable - I'm buying that stuff - at the time more because it was easy to use (no gloves). Of course the breaking didn't happen again.

Then the other night my winch inadvertently became a "****** strap" and snapped - user error - but led to me using the 500 winch and re-spooling both of them after our ride - like I always do so they don't get tangled and messed up. I try to take care of gear. I realized back home that they spool opposite of each other.

TMI for you guys I'm sure - but here's another twist you all may be able to explain.

I'm shopping for synthetic line and have heard good things about winchline.com
While reading some of their links I read that a synthetic line being used by rock crawler jeeps broke on it's second use. The analysis by these guys who do that all the time and looking at the photos from the event it is pointed out that the winch is unrolling from the top and should be from the bottom and that it caused the line to rub on the winch bracket and cut it.

SOOO... a few of us now have polaris winches which spool from the top and my warn winch cable, looking back, wouldn't have likely snapped had it been spolled from the top. Are the Rockcrawlers their own beast with a different application?

Man there is so much stuff on this forum. Thanks again.

I assume you are all synthetic fans??? I am with my limited experience. I'm looking to order new synthetic for the 800.

Additionally - i've to this point used my original fairlead with the synthetic with no problem and now read you should replace it.

Thoughts on that?

 

You should replace the roller fairlead especially if there are any burrs or rough spots. The Hawse fairlead is supposed to be better with synthetic rope. There are some made from aluminum. I threw away a couple of the cast iron ones when I put the rollers on.